Spain 2016 - El Rocio again

Mum and Dad planned to show Joan, El Rocio, so I thought I might be able to go for a ride. E-mail to a stables resulted in an automatic response thanking me for my inquiry so when we drove into town I found the office from the website. There was no-one there and the organization that shared the office space was not helpful. Oh well, no riding for me. We drove around to show it to Joan and then stopped by the lagoon for a little bird watching.

Really old tree, shading a restaurant.

Right beside the path, a Grey Heron

Yellow iris wasn't in bloom when we were last here.

There were lots of Shovelers but it was hard to get a picture as their heads were down in the water, shovelling I guess.

 We usually eat at the same place but stopped on a whim at a different one.

We sat outside in the sun, it is consistently outside eating weather right now, especially out of any wind.

We ordered wine and while we perused the menu, the waiter bought us 2 hot sardines and bread each. Tasty but not really to my liking because of the bones (not to mention the head and tail).

We ordered a salad to share and 4 tapas; this is the wild boar stew, also had sheep cheese, ham and a shrimp omelette (not what we expected, no eggs in it, sort of crunchy). The wild boar was delicious - very tender and flavourful.

Inside the walls were full of pictures of the pilgrimage, harness pieces and, unfortunately, hunting trophies.

We overlooked a square with a statue of the Lady of El Rocio and some of the brotherhood houses.

One had an ornate Mudejar style doorway

and another, handpainted tile depicting the finding of the statue.

A mule cart drove by as we were finishing with a sign saying it was 2 Euro per person. We thought that was pretty good and were looking forward to the ride but the driver said it was 15 Euro for the 4 of us. Not bad but we felt he hadn't honoured his sign and didn't go for the ride.

Back to the lagoon for a little stroll after lunch. Coot and a Black Winged Stilt (he's been banded).

Mum wants me to put all my pictures on a flash drive for her to pick from, when we get home. She is wanting wildflower pictures and I figure a thistle is a wildflower and as beautiful as any.

 Drove home via Carrefour for some groceries then supper. I made the duck sauce recipe (I posted it last year from Ceret - orange juice and rind, ginger, soy etc) but served it with chicken breast. In France, duck breast was in the grocery stores all the time and quite often on sale. We had it at least once a week. Here? No duck! Oh well, when in Rome, its not like we aren't eating well. So, now, I think there may be some Bridge in my future, sigh.